Any idea's for Eco-Friendly pedal bin liners????

[Love2bake]

I currently use a normal tesco style carrier bag to line my pedal bin.

However I am sooo trying to be more green but can't think of a better alternative.

Any ideas??

Lakeland sell biodegradable bin liners

Do exactly what you're doing. I really think it's the greenest option. Seems like the carbon cost of biodegradable bags is bigger, and they won't biodegrade either in landfill or an incinerator...

I was wondering this now i have my fancy pants reuseable tesco bags i have ran out of carrier bags for bins!

pedal bin liners used to be really strong, they rip and fall apart really quickly now

You can line a bin with newspapers - I used to do the outdoor bins as a child at home. But I'm too lazy (busy?) to do it these days, so I get domestically compostable bin liners in Waitrose. I use them for my compost bin. But I don't know what their 'footprint' would be. I think they may be made from cornstarch.

prettycandles, I was reading about the cornstarch bags on the riverford website, I think i posted a link here a few weeks ago. It sounds, from what i remember, that the problem with the cornstarch bags is a) they are high carbon to produce (a LOT higher than a plastic bag, like 2fold? maybe 3fold? can't remember) and b) if they get into plastics recycling they make the WHOLE LOT unstable and thus un-recyclable. Same is true for 'degradable' plastic, which the Riverford folk are saying should be banned -strong words from people who have invested in the stuff themselves and are really regretting it having looked into it all a bit more.

What's wrong with re-using an old bag?

I use old cereal bags (like from corn flakes, rice crisps, etc.), in our Brabantia bin (which is foot pedal operated).

But the point about the degradeable bags is that they don't go into recycling. In my case they go on the compost heap, and do break down completely. And as bin-liners they would go into landfill.

Can't argue with the footprint issue, though.

I am really confused now

Think I'll stick to using otherwise defunct carrier bags for now - I have been known to tape together ones with holes in. I read somewhere that the tax on plastic bags in Ireland massively reduced the amount of bags given away in shops, but at the same time the sale of bin bags rose dramatically, which seems rather 'swings and roundabouts' to me. Although I suppose some folk might think twice about throwing away inappropriately something they have paid for .

All my local shops now charge for plastic bags, but the farmers market doesn't - and most of the stall holders automatically stick your purchases in a plastic bag even if you are carrying a reusable one (or another plastic one that only has one item in it) - still trying to get my head round that.